News in brief

12:00AM BST 11 Jul 2000

A GARDENER who bludgeoned to death a 16-year-old girl after she refused to sleep with him was given a life sentence yesterday.

Philip Dawes, 35, of Worle, Somerset, admitted murdering Kerry Harris at a friend's flat in Weston-super-Mare last September. The trainee hairdresser was sexually assaulted and battered to death with a mallet after a struggle, Bristol Crown Court was told.

Ministers are ordered to court the business vote

TONY BLAIR has ordered ministers to court the business community in the run-up to the general election to prevent the Tories winning over corporate Britain. Ministers have been instructed to attend engagements where they can speak about government policy and achievements.

The Prime Minister is said to be "nervous" about seeing the business vote slip back to the Conservatives. Ministers say Downing Street has drawn up a tally to ensure enough senior politicians are carrying out speaking engagements.

One minister said: "Tony's getting a bit jittery about losing business support so we all have instructions to get out there and speak to them." The key themes Labour plans to pursue are sound management of the economy, that business can trust Labour and that taxes will not run out of control.

EU deep-water fish quotas

DEEP-WATER fish in the north-east Atlantic could be subject to quotas to avoid an ecological disaster, the EU announced yesterday.

Franz Fischler, the EU Commissioner responsible for fisheries, admitted that most of the species at risk - including ling, blue ling, tusk, round-nose grenadier, black scabbardfish, orange roughy and red sea bream - were already "over-exploited".

He said: "We must act to ensure the protection of these fragile species before irreversible damage is caused by unregulated fisheries." Fishermen faced with shrinking quotas for North Sea species such as cod and haddock are believed to be targeting the deep-water fish.

Euan Blair on parade

inttext: 7 July 2000: A good kid really, says Blair after drunk son is held

Heinz ketchup turns green

HEINZ tomato ketchup is turning green. The company is launching the new version in America in October and hopes to introduce it in Britain alongside the familiar red sauce later. Red ketchup was one of Heinz's first products and has been on sale in its present form for 125 years.

A blue sauce was also considered but rejected. Claire Maceivilly, of the British Nutritional Foundation, said: "I am surprised that Heinz is opting to change the colour as recent research has shown that kids are put off by the colour green."